Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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235. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the extent to which she continues to examine the situation whereby women who left full-time employment to care for a relative or family member and returned to the workforce with insufficient time to enable them to make the necessary contributions can meet the necessary contributions to qualify for a pension; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18711/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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This Government acknowledges the important role that family carers play and is fully committed to supporting them in that role. Accordingly, the State Pension system currently gives significant recognition to those whose work history includes an extended period outside of paid employment, often to raise families or in a full-time caring role.

Despite these measures, some long-term carers of incapacitated dependants may still face barriers in accessing the State Pension (Contributory). This was recognised by the Pension Commission in its report which recommended that long-term carers should be given access to the State Pension (Contributory) and defined long-term caring as caring for more than 20 years. It was also recognised that long-term carers may, for example, have difficulty establishing the minimum number of 10 years of paid contributions.

In September 2022, I announced a series of landmark reforms to the State Pension system in response to the recommendations from the Pensions Commission. This set of measures represents the biggest ever structural reform of the Irish State Pension system.

As the Deputy is aware, one of the key measures introduced from the 1st January 2024 is the introduction of long-term carer's contributions. Long-term carer's contributions can be awarded to a person who has cared for an incapacitated person for a period of 20 years or more. These contributions will be treated the same as paid contributions for State Pension (Contributory) entitlement only and can be used to satisfy the minimum 520 contributions condition.

My Department launched an online system for people to register for long term caring contributions. If a person has cared for less than 20 years (1040 weeks), the period will be registered and used for State Pension (Contributory) if/when they have additional periods which accumulate to 20 years or more. The care does not have to be provided for consecutive years. It can be a combination of any periods during the working life where a person was unable to be in paid employment for more than 18.5 hours per week due to caring responsibilities.

A person with less than 20 years caring may be entitled to avail of homecaring periods subject to existing qualification conditions of having 520 paid contributions. A combination of 20 years homecaring periods and 20 years paid contributions can be used to qualify for a full rate pension.

In the case of a person who reaches age 66 and does not have sufficient contributions to qualify for a full pension, they will now have the option to work for longer to build up additional entitlements.

If a person has less than 10 years PRSI reckonable paid contributions, they may be able to use this period of deferral to establish entitlement. A person will also have the option to continue working between age 66 and 70 and receive an actuarially based increase in their weekly payment rate, should they choose to defer their State Pension (Contributory).

Finally, the situation remains unchanged where a person reaches State Pension age and does not satisfy the conditions to qualify for State Pension (Contributory) or qualifies for less than the maximum rate, they may instead qualify for one of the following:

• The means-tested State Pension (Non-Contributory) which is a means-tested payment (based on their share of household means) with a maximum payment of 95% of the State Pension (Contributory); or
• An increase for a qualified adult (based on their own means), amounting up to 90% of a full rate State Pension (Contributory) where their spouse has a contributory pension; or
• Where their spouse/civil partner is deceased, a widow's/widower's/civil partner's contributory pension, which they may claim either based on their spouse's or their own social insurance record. The qualifying conditions for this require fewer contributions paid (260) than the SPC for the maximum personal rate for those aged 66 or over.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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236. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the extent to which the waiting time for a decision in respect of applications for various social welfare payments has been shortened; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18712/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department understands the many pressures faced by customers and always seeks to ensure that claims are handled quickly and efficiently.

I am sure that the Deputy can appreciate how processing times can vary across schemes, depending on the differing qualification criteria. Schemes that require a high level of documentary evidence from the customer, particularly in the case of illness-related schemes, can take longer to process. Similarly, means-tested payments can also require more detailed investigations and interaction with the customer, thereby lengthening the decision-making process.

My Department has introduced a wide range of initiatives aimed at streamlining the processing of claims, supported by modern technology in recent years. Operational processes, procedures and the organisation of work are continually reviewed to ensure that processing capability is maximised.

In addition, the staffing needs of my Department are regularly reviewed, having regard to workloads and the competing demands arising, to ensure that the best use is made of all available resources.

I am pleased to report that claim processing is up to date, with processing targets met, or exceeded, on average, for all the main scheme areas. Both the carer's allowance and carer's benefit claims are being processed an average of two weeks quicker than they were compared to a year previously and Child Benefit claims are being processed an average of one week quicker than they were compared to a year previously.

The table below gives the average weeks to award for all main schemes as of December 2023.

I hope this clarifies the position for the Deputy.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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237. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the extent to which the waiting time for determination of appeals has been shortened; the average length of time for processing appeals at present; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18713/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Social Welfare Appeals Office is an Office of the Department of Social Protection which is responsible for determining appeals against decisions in relation to social welfare entitlements. Appeals Officers are independent in their decision making functions.

The below table shows a breakdown of the average processing times for all appeals over the past 10 years and from 1st January 2024 to 31st March 2024.

Appeal Processing Times for appeals 2014 – 31^st March 2024

Significant efforts and resources have been devoted to reforming and streamlining the appeal process in recent years. A modernisation project is currently in progress to develop and implement a new appeals business process and IT system. This project aims to provide an enhanced and responsive appeals service for customers. A new IT system was introduced on 6 November 2023. The next phase of the system, which will be implemented in Quarter 3 2024, will provide functionality on the MyWelfare platform for making appeals. This will provide a secure, comprehensive, online appeals service for customers. It will improve the customer experience by offering an additional online channel, facilitating 24/7 access to view current appeal status. It will also reduce the administrative overhead of validating and registering appeals.

The Chief Appeals Officer continues to monitor processing times and every effort is made to reduce the time taken to process an appeal. However, the drive for efficiency must be balanced with the competing demand to ensure that decisions are consistent and of high quality and made in accordance with the legislative provisions and the general principles of fair procedures and natural justice.